


Emotional ties

by DemonessKneesocks



Category: Original Work
Genre: #wintermonsterbang, Exophilia, F/M, Teratophilia, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 14:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16955595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonessKneesocks/pseuds/DemonessKneesocks
Summary: For the #wintermonsterbangDay OneMonster: GoblinPrompt: Shopping for GiftsA woman and her goblin boyfriend discuss Christmas presents and the emotions that go into gift-giving.





	Emotional ties

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this a few hours ahead of time because tomorrow I will be busy all day long, so enjoy :D

“I can’t decide on what to get my cousin.” A sigh was exhaled loudly.

“Money.” A page of a magazine turned over.

“That’s your answer for everything.”

“Then jewelry.” Another page.

“So, another type of currency then.” Another sigh.

“Hey, who complains about getting at type of money?!”

Marianne had been thinking for the past thirty minutes on what to get her cousin Amber. She’d already skimmed all the shop windows in the shopping district, went into almost every one of them, including second-hand and thrift shops to top it all off. She wanted to get it just right that year, something that said how thankful she was for their great friendship and mutual understanding.

Buying gifts for the holiday season had always been something Marianne liked. It gave her a chance to go over everyone’s personality and try to come up with something to give them that made them smile and know that she’d thought about them when she purchased the item in question. Seeing her little cousins eyes sparkle at the board games she gave them or her uncle’s and aunt’s smiles at the knick-knacks or small useful items she got them and thank her always made her day. 

“I want these gifts to feel personal, not something I left up to the last minute.” The woman sunk lower in her chair in front of her computer, closing the Amazon tab out of sheer frustration.

“And what says ‘I care about you’ more than ‘here’s something of actual value’?” To him it was simple, and he couldn’t see what was so hard about choosing a gift for a loved one.

And, of course, now there was someone new in Marianne’s life. Her boyfriend, Ravik, a cute little goblin with barely over half her height and a pair of equally cute tusks that jutted out upwards and made her smile every time they kissed. He was a long-shot away from her little-girl fantasies of a tall prince in shiny armor and a white horse but that didn’t make him any less lovable in her eyes.

They’d met a few years back at an open-air market when she was wandering around and ended up at his stall appreciating all the types of jewelry him and his family had handmade to sell. At first she hadn’t made much of an impact, with people always wanting to make a purchase, but when, at last, she’d garnered up the courage to speak up and pointed to a lovely pair of small, silver earrings it was then their fate had sealed.

Ravik had promptly blushed and thanked the gods the other costumers had went away, asking why specifically she’d wanted to purchase that pair of jewelry when he had never had an offer on it. Marianne explained she liked the simple design and that they looked beautiful, surprised that no one so far had wanted to purchase them. It was then that the goblin had admitted the earrings were his first creation ever and, compared to the other, bigger pieces they had never made much of an impact.

A trade was made that day. A lovely pair of earrings for a coffee date. A coffee date that turned into a movie date that turned into a walk alongside a nearby park and so on.

They’d had their ups and downs, like any other couple. Cultural differences, mostly, that were quickly resolved with comprehensive listening and amendments to whatever rude gesture had been made that time but, sometimes, there were some thing that, no matter what, didn’t get through. Like sentimental value vs objective value, for example.

After thinking for a few seconds, Marianne’s brain lit up like a bulb and she quickly got up, racing to her room. “Wait here!” She shouted animatedly. She would make him understand with this for sure! When returning with one of her most prized possessions she sat down next to her boyfriend on the couch and put her free arm around his shoulder to bring him closer while showing off what she was holding with her other hand. “Here, see this?”

Taking in the white and purple (monstrosity) creature in front of his eyes, Ravik put down the magazine he’d been reading and narrowed his eyes, wondering if it was some sort of test. “It’s your poorly made stuffed bunny. The one you always keep on that shelf next to the lava lamp.”

She would not sigh another time, Marianne repeated like a mantra, she would be patient and explain to him her point of view. “Yes, but beyond that it’s something my cousin gave me one Christmas when I was feeling not so great. She was taking sewing classes and made me this. It has sentimental value and you can’t put a price on that so, now it’s my turn to do something good for her. I’ve been trying for years to find something with equal sentimental value but so far nothing.”

“So… you’re gonna make her another stuffed bunny?”

“No. Unfortunately, my sewing skills are not that great and never will be, as you can attest to, but I’m going to buy her something that can show how thankful I am and that I still remember her gesture.”

Ravik leaned back and into his girlfriend’s embrace, wondering how humans could navigate such complicated gifting rituals. “Humans are really complicated. We goblins just trade gold and jewels to keep it simple and we don’t even celebrate your holiday to top it all off.” 

“Don’t tell me that’s all you got from my explanation.”

“No, but now I have to return your gift.”

“Return my what, now?”

“Your gift. You don’t seem to have liked my suggestions of jewelry so you clearly have no interest in any of it.”

The gift he’d spent a month drawing up to perfection, going through a lot of concepts, from gold and silver to gems like emeralds and sapphires, all just to see the most beautiful gems of all light up when she saw his creation. Her eyes. Her beautiful eyes that, to him, saw the world in all colors and saw him in a better light than he could ever see himself in.

“You got me jewelry for Christmas?” Marianne was getting a little teary-eyed at that point and looked down at her boyfriend’s face. Aww, those tusks would always draw her in.

“Of course I did!” What kind of boyfriend would he be if he didn’t get his girlfriend something? He’d always gotten her small gifts, like her favorite brand of chocolate to try and dispel the myth goblins only cared about treasures, but this one was supposed to be special.

“That’s… really sweet.”

“It is? But you just rejected my proposal to give out jewels as gifts.”

“To my cousin. But from you, a goblin, jewels have meaning. And for you to give me something of that kind it has to mean something really special.”

The pair hugged and Marianne leaned down to receive a kiss filled with passion and love. That was her Ravik, a goblin with a heart filled with more than gold, he loved her over everything else in his life and would always treasure their love above all the jewels money could every buy.

They were the only ones in existence at that moment, a human and a goblin, locked in a tender embrace filled with love and a hint of lust, by the way things were going with Ravik slowly edging Marianne back until the woman was lying back and he was straddling the waist of the bigger human, his hands on either side of her neck, itching to caress her soft skin.

It took a while for the pair to part their kiss getting more intense as the minutest went by, the outside worlds a mere notion of the imagination to them, but, when they finally did they smiled at each other with all the love and tenderness they could muster.

“Well, now I may have to return your gift, it’s no longer a surprise.” Admitted Ravik with a hint of awkwardness as he put his forehead to his girlfriend’s.

“Don’t worry, whatever it is I bet it’s something really special.” Marianne smiled and brought him closer for another kiss.

And it would be something more special that she imagined, Ravik thought in wonder at her reaction. He hoped with all his heart she would said ‘yes’ when he opened that box to show her the beautiful ring he had custom-made with her in mind.


End file.
